However, the individual is still left to decide where to stand in relation to church teaching. In Protestant churches, the Bible has a much greater authority than the church. Natural Law holds a dominant position. The Church encourages a range of different approaches, but when it comes to official church teaching, the vast majority of statements, encyclicals etc. are strongly in-line with Natural Law.
Aside from well constructed speeches and hunger strikes, the refusal to obey certain laws and the passive resistance, that is, resisting to incoming violence usually from the government, are other ways to morally protest without any physical violence. Ghandi’s march on the sea and Martin Luther King Jr.’s march on Washington are the ultimate effective peaceful demonstrations (Keating). The opposing way to support some strong cause can be through violent protesting. Violent protesting involves commiting acts which may harm people or cause damage to property. In most cases violence is used in hope of getting attention and media publicity.
For example, on Damascus Road, Saint Paul’s religious experience transformed his moral outlook. It would appear that all religious experiences demonstrate a revelation of truth, but one could argue that this does not indicate they are true. As Freud would argue that religious experiences are a way of externalising deep, repressed personal truths. In such a view, religious experiences are unverifiable and cannot be thought to prove the existence of God, as they are merely manifestations of the human subconsciousness. A transient experience short, and cannot be sustained for a long duration of time.
Page 62 of the article expresses that "most theists do not come to have faith in God as a premise for religious conviction, however come to religion as a consequence of different reasons and variables." However, he feels that to the extent confirmations serve theists, the three most usually acknowledged are the teleological, the
Religion does not deal with any sort of rational analysis. On the other hand theology deals with the rational analysis of a religious faith. However there is no way we can separate the two. Theology is not science. Science is not theology.
Martin Luther King Jr. helped shape the society we live today and continues to have an influence on civil rights reforms today. Many philanthropic groups have formed to carry out the visions inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. such as The King Center, NAACP and the National Civil Rights Museum. I believe that Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement represented a positive social change on American society today. Without them, society today would not be what it is today; People would not be able to walk proud and live in peace and equality and be happy with who they were regardless of race. While I still feel that society has a long way to go in regards to discrimination of race I feel that we have also come a long way.
He shows that the passage in Acts includes evangelism, teaching, service, and worship of God. However, it includes more than just those aspects of church ministry and with greater specificity to the church than do the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, which were given before the commencement of the church. It includes prayer and fellowship along with meeting together as a church (221). In addition, Hammett argues for more than just a return to teachings held centuries ago. He also contends that contemporary Christians must progress beyond mistakes of the past.
Many examples in the book made me consider perspectives that I had never thought of before. In my opinion, this book definitely stirred up a reassurance of my place in society and what can be done to liberate the oppressed. I believe the voices represented in this book can cause negative reactions from some churches because it goes against what is and has been normal. Churches would not really like to change the view of “white” Christ to be a diverse Christ of another race because it would change certain aspects and power. The church is called to be one diverse body of God, but as churches can remain dominant to one race, it becomes difficult to incorporate diversity into what already is established.
Explain the main ethical principles of religion you have studied (25 marks) Christianity is a religion of many different branches and because of this there is no universal set of ethics. This lack of absolute ethics amongst Christians is due to the diversity of Christianity as there are many denominations for example Roman Catholic Christianity and Protestantism. Roman Catholic Christianity bases its ethics on the Holy Bible and the magisterium which consists of the Pope and the cardinals; in contrast to Protestantism that sees the Holy Bible as the only source of authority. Though both denominations follow the bible they interpret and accept the different parts of the bible. In general, there are similar ethical beliefs amongst Christians due to Judaism being the only root of Christian ethics.
However, religious traditions are more varied than that and even in the religions mainly opposed to abortion, there are traditions that permit abortion. Religion is important in this cause because not every religion regards abortion as a simple, black and white decision, which causes a lot of controversy. For example, Protestant Christianity is one of the most common religious traditions in the United States, as well as the world. Vocal opposition to abortion is very common in Protestant churches but support for abortion rights is as well, just not as strong. There is no single Protestant position on abortion, but Protestants who oppose abortion sometimes portray themselves as the only true Christians